Abstract
AS every professional astronomer knows, there is a vast population of laymen for whom the really exciting problems of astronomy are not those associated with the finiteness or supposed expansion of space, or the sources of stellar energy, but with the canals on Mars and the possibility of life on Mars. In this little book of 250 pages, the Astronomer Royal tells us of the findings of modern astronomy on these latter questions, and much besides, in a way that will not only interest the layman, but the professional scientist as well. It is a model of what such a book should be, popular and scientific at the same time, clear but concise in its writing, with the main theme standing out unburdened by irrelevant details, and the conclusions stated with balance and fairness. If there are any inaccuracies of fact, or even of typography, the present writer has failed to notice them.
Life on Other Worlds
By Dr. H. Spencer Jones. Pp. xiv + 259 + 17 plates. (London: English Universities Press, Ltd., 1940.) 7s. 6d. net.
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JEANS, J. Life on Other Worlds. Nature 146, 211–212 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146211a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146211a0